Tom Nic & Sounder's Excellent Adventure...

[Jan K]

Another day... navigating the "new" site is a bit of a challenge when you dont' have time to familiarize yourself with it.

I'm not going to try and post more pics until I figure out why the ones above aren't showing... I'm sure the reason is somewhere on the board, I just don't have time to find it. If anyone cares enough to take the time to enlighten me I'll be grateful!

...OK, where's my sunscreen... ](*,)

Good show guys - can't wait to see more pictures..
...OK, where's my umbrella... ](*,)

[Tom Nic]

Do we know why Flickr pictures aren't posting?



OK, apparently the HTML linkage on Flickr doesn't work, but you can use img tags to post the picture. Rich clued me in below... but it would have helped if you said something!

Check out this link for the latest pics that we've been able to upload.

[Diver_C]

[Diver_C]

[Tom Nic]

OK, finally got it figured out. Apparently the html is disabled on the board, however, Rich sent me on a detective journey and I finally figured out that the image linking feature does work. Sheesh... about time! (Thanks Rich!)

[BbbleMkr]

Rich may work in mysterious ways, but he works!

Pics and stories have made my day. I'm so tired of snow and ice....

dd

[Tom Nic]

Anybody guess what this is? :rr:

[airsix]

Hey guys, thanks for keeping a steady flow of pictures coming. Every time I check Tom's flicker gallery there's more treats. I love it.
-Ben

[spatman]

Anybody guess what this is? :rr:

a macro shot of sounder's backside after too many pina coladas and nude sunbathing?

[Ken G]

Anybody guess what this is? :rr:

Rain on the surface?

[Tom Nic]

:wav:
Ding ding ding ding ding!! Give the man a prize! :smt038

(Although I bet you "cheated" cause you've probably seen it when you were here.)

Sounder and I were coming up from a great dive at Windsock when this cloudburst hit. The effect, visually and aurally (sp?) was just delightful. Got some pretty cool video of it as well. The combination of the rain, high wind and waves just made the surface dance! One of life's delightful things that as I think about it, how many people actually get to see? Perhaps not as rare as the top of Everest, but I am grateful...

Here's your prize, a cooperative little moray from the dive!



We're headed north to Washington Slagbaii Park today!

[cardiver]

Are you using your new strobe, Tom?

[Tom Nic]

Nope. It's a bust. At least the way my camera arm is configured. The sensor on the TTL flash is on the bottom front of the strobe, meaning that the best place for the strobe is directly over the camera, which doesn't work well IMO for elimination of backscatter, and I can't even get it to fire consistently. Not happy about that but Bonaire is awesome so I will not let it get me down! Hopefully I can return it.

[spatman]

Nope. It's a bust. At least the way my camera arm is configured. The sensor on the TTL flash is on the bottom front of the strobe, meaning that the best place for the strobe is directly over the camera, which doesn't work well IMO for elimination of backscatter, and I can't even get it to fire consistently. Not happy about that but Bonaire is awesome so I will not let it get me down! Hopefully I can return it.

what kind of strobe did you get, tom?

[Sounder]

Anybody guess what this is? :rr:

a macro shot of sounder's backside after too many pina coladas and nude sunbathing?

Hey Spatman - Kiss my ASS!!!

[Tom Nic]

what kind of strobe did you get, tom?

Olympus UFL-1

(BTW, I think you should resuscribe to this thread... Stop the war between you and Sounder before the big guns come out!) :naka:

[spatman]

(BTW, I think you should resuscribe to this thread... Stop the war between you and Sounder before the big guns come out!) :naka:

i'm sure sounder knows it's all in jest. (uh, right, sounder?)


.. and hey, sounder:

nice ASS!!

[
Hey Spatman - Kiss my ASS!!!

[Sounder]

(BTW, I think you should resuscribe to this thread... Stop the war between you and Sounder before the big guns come out!) :naka:

i'm sure sounder knows it's all in jest. (uh, right, sounder?)


.. and hey, sounder:

nice ASS!!

[
Hey Spatman - Kiss my ASS!!!

Uh, thanks. Just wait until you see the other "wild ass" Tom and I came across yesterday. We'd post it now, but surface interval is over... time to get wet again.

[Tom Nic]

Ok, time to turn this conversation away from... ahem... the asses we saw, to the reason we came, diving!

There's so much to report, that I just don't have the time, so I'll give it in bite size pieces. After much searching we finally found a nice little yellow frogfish, and monster green moray easily 7'-8' long, and last but not least a nice whitish, pinkish sea horse. Following are a few pics of the moray and the sea horse.



This guy was HUGE... by far the largest one I've ever seen. To get the above shot we had to poke way back under a boat where he lives at 96 fsw. The thought crosses your mind as you're back there, "Gee, I hope he's not in a bad mood, cause there ain't nowhere to go if he comes at me..." Here's his backside...



This guy was about 4-5 inches long, and no doubt got tired of the darn dive paparazzi before we finally headed up to our safety stop! We were pretty psyched.

[spatman]

that seahorse is awesome, tom. great find!

[Sounder]

that seahorse is awesome, tom. great find!

It was really cool to see one in the "wild." It was also the last critter I needed to check-off on my "list of cool critters I really want to see while in Bonaire." What a special treat.

Yesterday evening we dove a site that we'd been to before, but we entered the water just as the sun was setting... our hope was to catch "shift change." We did, but it wasn't like shift change in other parts of the island... all the fish start schooling and gathering close as if to prepare for the soon-to-arrive "Tarpon Doom" and then all these fish start disappearing one by one until the reef quiet and motionless. About half-way into this exodus to hiding the tarpon show up... at first they appear to only be looking for sick or injured fish (while there's still a little ambient light) because they're not nearly as aggressive, but then once the sun is really gone they go into "hunter mode." Perhaps they're just surveying their delicious meal before they eat it - I have no idea. Bottom line, these are the apex predators of Bonaire... and they put on quite a show.

An hour later we're surfacing into surge, waves, and uneven ground, carefully avoiding fire coral and scorpion fish, and eventually make it to the truck. All is dark except for the radio towers, the stars, and the town in the distance. A great way to end another amazing day.

[Tom Nic]

Can you see me?



How about now?







Little yellow froggy that we searched for for so long!

[Tom Nic]

(Sounder posting on Tom's computer):

He was glad that Rachel wasn't diving with us - his anal fins were safe with Tom and I!! :hello2:

[Ken G]

Love the Frogfish Tom. Keep them coming

[Tom Nic]

There is much beauty in small things... if you take the time to stop and look close. The beauty gives me an awe and a joy that's hard to describe...